In the calculus of baseball, like in most other businesses, intangibles are part of valuation. Forbes reports that the New York Yankees are worth $2.3 billion, the most valuable team in baseball. Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez, once one of the stars around which the Yankees were rebuilt recently, may be gone for the rest of this season and next. Does that cause the Yankees a loss in financial value? It depends on the yardstick.

The Yankees may save as much as $37 million with Rodriguez off the payroll for the balance of this season and all of 2014. The team already has challenges with baseball’s salary cap. According to SB Nation, the Yankees have a total payroll of $228 million, and the team would need to cut $40 million to get under that cap.

Is Rodriguez one of the reasons people come to Yankee Stadium? Probably not. Team attendance has suffered little this year — a year in which Rodriguez did not take one at bat. Most experts believe that, at 38, his abilities to play at the highest level in the game are gone. If he is out until the 2015 season, that fall off almost certainly will continue.

The Forbes analysis of the Yankee valuation shows that its ownership in the Yes Network, and the overall value increase of all teams in the sport due to TV deals with Fox, ESPN and TBS, have helped the New York club. Rodriguez’s absence will not affect any of those contributions, most likely.

When Rodriguez joined the Yankees in 2004, he was still “the greatest show on earth,” at least in baseball’s world. In his extraordinary season of 2007, A-Rod hit 54 home runs and had 156 RBIs. That was a remarkable season, compared to any season posted by any player in the game’s history. His production has tapered off most years since then.

There is one case for the value A-Rod as a driver of attendance, but if it has any bearing, its effects have been lost as his performance has declined. The Yankees drew more than four million fans from 2004 through 2008. That number fell to just over 3.5 million last year. Of course, there could be another reason for the drop. The Yankees have not won the World Series since 2009. As a matter of fact, by most measures, their post-season play since then has been mostly pathetic.

Will A-Rod be missed? Probably not. His reputation has been too badly tarnished. And he apparently does not contribute anything to attendance or the other sources of Yankee revenue. All his absence will do is save the team money. That actually may improve the Yankees’ value after all.

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